Meet The Owner – Alastair Inglis and his Peugeot 203 Styleside

There are those rare occasions when a classic car enthusiast encounters a vehicle they were unaware of. The 1952 203 Styleside ute owned by Alastair Inglis, the 203 Registrar of Club Peugeot UK, is one such exclusive machine. The ute was a version sold only in Australia, where just two remain on the road.

The 203 made its bow at the 1948 Paris Motor Show as Peugeot’s first new post-war design. Its importance to both its manufacturer and the French motoring public was comparable to the new Morris Minor in the UK. It was Peugeot’s first monocoque design, the styling was contemporary without looking overly quasi-American, and the 203 promised to follow the company’s traditions of integrity and dependability. The engine was a 1,290cc four-cylinder unit; France’s tax/horsepower laws discouraged larger power plants.

The 203 was never a common sight in the UK, primarily due to import duties. However, Peugeot did make inroads into several Commonwealth markets, including Australia, where sales began in 1949. One journal raved:

The ‘203’ model is the work of brilliant French engineers who, by modern methods have obtained outstanding performance with exceptional operating economy. By reason of its attractive lines, the high degree of comfort, the carefully studied equipment, the ease with which it can be driven and its extraordinary high degree of safety, it is a car which will appeal to buyers the world over.

One Sydney trader marketed the 203 as “A Man’s Car – that a woman likes to drive”, but despite (or even because of) such advertising, Peugeots were locally assembled by 1952. Some firms also created their own version, such as the Styleside ute, and Alistair explains:

In the early 1950s, the Victoria Peugeot dealer, The Canada Cycle and Motor Company, commissioned the conversion of a few panel vans to this very stylish design. They were possibly built to order (maybe 15 in total) with a coach-built cab with a hardwood frame, and each one is slightly different. It would have been a costly exercise, so what was the motive? Maybe there were insufficient 203 utes available from France to meet demand, and maybe the 203 panel vans, with a capacity of only 600kg, were not selling well. A similar design of ute had been launched by Holden a few years earlier, and Peugeot built several similar prototypes in their Sochaux factory using their standard camionette design with a vertical-backed cab.

One challenge facing any Australian Peugeot dealer in the 1950s was that the ute market demanded six cylinders, while the 203 had four. But the Styleside was as durable as any Holden – if not more so – and looked smart enough to grace a respectable Melbourne suburb.

Production of the 203 ceased on the 25^th of February 1960, and Alastair’s Styleside goes by the Nom de Peugeot of Pesa Mingi. Her owner explains she was:

Totally rebuilt in 2008/9 by well-known Peugeot enthusiasts in Ballarat to exacting standards with a number of improvements to make it fit for Outback touring. It has covered around 63,000 kms on numerous events organised by the Peugeot Car Club of Victoria over the ensuing years as well as being used as a daily driver up to the allowable days for Historic-registered vehicles. Outback events have included Melbourne to the tip of Cape York and Cairns to Busselton across the red centre via Alice Springs and along the Gunbarrel Highway, engineered by Len Beadell.

A 1,468cc engine now powers Pesa Mingi. Alastair’s Styleside also features upgraded brakes and seats and retracting seatbelts. He observes, “All mechanicals are original Peugeot items common to early Peugeots, so parts are easily sourced. It cruises at legal limits and is in very good order all round”.

And few utes can boast the savoir-faire of Pesa Mingi.

With Thanks To: Alastair Inglis www.clubpeugeotuk.org